Unknown Window Manager?

Forum rules
Before you post read how to get help. Topics in this forum are automatically closed 6 months after creation.
Locked
GiggleGut

Unknown Window Manager?

Post by GiggleGut »

Hello, I'm a typical newbie. I've been using Linux Mint Gnome for a few months now. But I've installed XFCE just a few days ago. So far so good. The transition wasn't to bad. I just downloaded my display drivers through EnvyNG. I'm not really sure if that attributed to my problem, but thats the last major "change" I've done other than just changing themes and such. But I've seem to change my Window Manager settings some how. Now its very difficult to navigate through everything. I've attached a screen shot to show what I mean. I don't have the normal window option to close, minimize or even just move the window freely. This is probably just a simple solution but I can't seem to figure it out. I keep getting that message shown on the screen shot.
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
User avatar
merlwiz79
Level 8
Level 8
Posts: 2418
Joined: Wed Apr 04, 2007 1:50 pm
Location: Here again :)

Re: Unknown Window Manager?

Post by merlwiz79 »

Did you try using compiz?
Did you disable compiz?
If so logout and then back in.
For some reason it doesn't detect when the xfwm4 is restarted.
Or just run these in the terminal:

Code: Select all

killall xfce-mcs-manager
xfce-mcs-manager
Edit:
You don't even have xfwm4 running.
Run this

Code: Select all

xfwm4 --compositor=off --daemon --replace &
Image
GiggleGut

Re: Unknown Window Manager?

Post by GiggleGut »

merlwiz79 wrote: Edit:
You don't even have xfwm4 running.
Run this

Code: Select all

xfwm4 --compositor=off --daemon --replace &
You're awesome! That did the trick. Thank you very much.
GiggleGut

Re: Unknown Window Manager?

Post by GiggleGut »

Hmm.... It randomly did it again. I was just surfing through these forums and the same thing happened. But the command you've instructed me with did fix it. Is there a setting I need to change?

off topic question:
I know there is a way to have both Gnome and XCFE. How do i also install Gnome so I can have the option to have Gnome and XCFE on the log in page.

Thanks.

Edit.
I ran the same command through terminal and everything was good. So I decided to restart to see if it would happen again. The same problem showed up. Do you think Compiz is causing this?
User avatar
merlwiz79
Level 8
Level 8
Posts: 2418
Joined: Wed Apr 04, 2007 1:50 pm
Location: Here again :)

Re: Unknown Window Manager?

Post by merlwiz79 »

Did you install any updates?
Does compiz run?
Sounds like it's set to autostart on login and doesn't start emerald.
Then doesn't fallback on xfwm4.
Image
GiggleGut

Re: Unknown Window Manager?

Post by GiggleGut »

At the moment, I'm on a different machine at work. But the laptop in question had over 100 updates through mintUpdate. Most of them were level 2 and 3 updates. If I remember right, compiz was one of the updates.

But I've noticed if I do get that problem I can click on XFCE 4 mintDesktop and enable/disable compiz and the window navigation (minimize, close maximize)shows back up. But I still cannot access XFCE 4 Window Manager Settings. I still get the same error message from the screenshot.
User avatar
merlwiz79
Level 8
Level 8
Posts: 2418
Joined: Wed Apr 04, 2007 1:50 pm
Location: Here again :)

Re: Unknown Window Manager?

Post by merlwiz79 »

Well that's because when compiz is enabled it takes over and uses emerald.
Emerald take place of xfwm4 so even if you could change the xfwm4 settings it wouldn't do anything.
When disabled xfce-mcs-manager doesn't detect the change back to xfwm4.
It will if you kill xfce-mcs-manager and start it again.

You should only update levels 1 & 2.
Any level 3 update should only be installed if it fixes a bug you need fixed.

Check to see if gdmprefetchlist is autostarting compiz.

Code: Select all

gksu mousepad /etc/gdm/gdmprefetchlist
Remove lines:

Code: Select all

/usr/bin/compiz
/usr/bin/compiz-decorator
Image
GiggleGut

Re: Unknown Window Manager?

Post by GiggleGut »

merlwiz79 wrote:Well that's because when compiz is enabled it takes over and uses emerald.
Emerald take place of xfwm4 so even if you could change the xfwm4 settings it wouldn't do anything.
When disabled xfce-mcs-manager doesn't detect the change back to xfwm4.
It will if you kill xfce-mcs-manager and start it again.

Check to see if gdmprefetchlist is autostarting compiz.

Code: Select all

gksu mousepad /etc/gdm/gdmprefetchlist
Remove lines:

Code: Select all

/usr/bin/compiz
/usr/bin/compiz-decorator

Thanks for the quick response. I'm still at work. But I will do what you recommend once I get home.
You should only update levels 1 & 2.
Any level 3 update should only be installed if it fixes a bug you need fixed.
Thanks for the lesson. It would have probably save me a lot of trouble.
yamawho
Level 3
Level 3
Posts: 183
Joined: Tue Dec 04, 2007 8:53 pm

Re: Unknown Window Manager?

Post by yamawho »

Oh crap ... I didn't know this about the updates ... 1 and 2 only eh.

I wonder if I should just do a fresh install and start again ?

Also, concerning Emerald, I made a change in the xfce mintconfig a while ago concerning locking out the desktop when the screen saver starts ... should these changes be made in Emerald instead ?
GiggleGut

Re: Unknown Window Manager?

Post by GiggleGut »

I'm such a newb. The file gdmprefetchlist is blank. So I could not remove any of the lines.
Is there a setting or option to make the contents of the file to be visible?
Thanks for being patient.
User avatar
merlwiz79
Level 8
Level 8
Posts: 2418
Joined: Wed Apr 04, 2007 1:50 pm
Location: Here again :)

Re: Unknown Window Manager?

Post by merlwiz79 »

Emerald is a Window theme manager for compiz no other settings are there.
Open thunar and navigate to /etc/gdm/ .
Now right click and open Folder as root.
Double click gdmprefetchlist.
Image
GiggleGut

Re: Unknown Window Manager?

Post by GiggleGut »

I restarted the computer and it had the same problem. Then I did what you directed and accessed gdm folder as root. A list did show up as you can see but i don't see
/usr/bin/compiz
/usr/bin/compiz-decorator
I apologize about posting the list this way. I figured you might want to see what I have down.

/usr/bin/xfce4-panel
/usr/lib/libapt-pkg-libc6.7-6.so.4.6
/usr/lib/libart_lgpl_2.so.2
/usr/lib/libasound.so.2
/usr/lib/libatk-1.0.so.0
/usr/lib/libaudiofile.so.0
/usr/lib/libavahi-client.so.3
/usr/lib/libavahi-common.so.3
/usr/lib/libavahi-glib.so.1
/usr/lib/libbonobo-2.so.0
/usr/lib/libbonobo-activation.so.4
/usr/lib/libbonoboui-2.so.0
/usr/lib/libcairo.so.2
/usr/lib/libcamel-provider-1.2.so.11
/usr/lib/libcompizconfig.so.0
/usr/lib/libcspi.so.0
/usr/lib/libdbus-1.so.3
/usr/lib/libdbus-glib-1.so.2
/usr/lib/libdecoration.so.0
/usr/lib/libdrm.so.2
/usr/lib/libecal-1.2.so.7
/usr/lib/libedataserver-1.2.so.9
/usr/lib/libeel-2.so.2
/usr/lib/libesd.so.0
/usr/lib/libexempi.so.3
/usr/lib/libexif.so.12
/usr/lib/libexpat.so.1
/usr/lib/libFLAC.so.8
/usr/lib/libfontconfig.so.1
/usr/lib/libfontenc.so.1
/usr/lib/libfreetype.so.6
/usr/lib/libgailutil.so.18
/usr/lib/libgconf2-4/2/libgconfbackend-xml.so
/usr/lib/libgconf-2.so.4
/usr/lib/libgdk_pixbuf-2.0.so.0
/usr/lib/libgdk-x11-2.0.so.0
/usr/lib/libgio-2.0.so.0
/usr/lib/libglade-2.0.so.0
/usr/lib/libglib-2.0.so.0
/usr/lib/libGL.so.1
/usr/lib/libgmodule-2.0.so.0
/usr/lib/libgnome-2.so.0
/usr/lib/libgnomecanvas-2.so.0
/usr/lib/libgnome-desktop-2.so.2
/usr/lib/libgnome-keyring.so.0
/usr/lib/libgnome-menu.so.2
/usr/lib/libgnomeui-2.so.0
/usr/lib/libgnomevfs-2.so.0
/usr/lib/libgnutls.so.13
/usr/lib/libgobject-2.0.so.0
/usr/lib/libgsf-1.so.114
/usr/lib/libgstaudio-0.10.so.0
/usr/lib/libgstbase-0.10.so.0
/usr/lib/libgstinterfaces-0.10.so.0
/usr/lib/libgstreamer-0.10.so.0
/usr/lib/libgthread-2.0.so.0
/usr/lib/libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0
/usr/lib/libgvfscommon.so.0
/usr/lib/libhal.so.1
/usr/lib/libICE.so.6
/usr/lib/liblaunchpad-integration.so.0
/usr/lib/libltdl.so.3
/usr/lib/libnautilus-extension.so.1
/usr/lib/libnm-util.so.0
/usr/lib/libnotify.so.1
/usr/lib/libnspr4.so.0d
/usr/lib/libogg.so.0
/usr/lib/liboil-0.3.so.0
/usr/lib/libORBit-2.so.0
/usr/lib/libORBitCosNaming-2.so.0
/usr/lib/libpanel-applet-2.so.0
/usr/lib/libpango-1.0.so.0
/usr/lib/libpangocairo-1.0.so.0
/usr/lib/libpangoft2-1.0.so.0
/usr/lib/libpcre.so.3
/usr/lib/libpixman-1.so.0
/usr/lib/libpng12.so.0
/usr/lib/libpolkit-dbus.so.2
/usr/lib/libpulsecore.so.5
/usr/lib/libsamplerate.so.0
/usr/lib/libSM.so.6
/usr/lib/libsndfile.so.1
/usr/lib/libspi.so.0
/usr/lib/libsqlite3.so.0
/usr/lib/libstartup-notification-1.so.0
/usr/lib/libstdc++.so.6
/usr/lib/libtasn1.so.3
/usr/lib/libwnck-1.so.22
/usr/lib/libX11.so.6
/usr/lib/libX11-xcb.so.1
/usr/lib/libXau.so.6
/usr/lib/libxcb.so.1
/usr/lib/libxcb-xlib.so.0
/usr/lib/libXcomposite.so.1
/usr/lib/libXcursor.so.1
/usr/lib/libXdamage.so.1
/usr/lib/libXdmcp.so.6
/usr/lib/libXext.so.6
/usr/lib/libXfixes.so.3
/usr/lib/libXinerama.so.1
/usr/lib/libXi.so.6
/usr/lib/libxml2.so.2
/usr/lib/libXmu.so.6
/usr/lib/libXmuu.so.1
/usr/lib/libXrandr.so.2
/usr/lib/libXrender.so.1
/usr/lib/libXRes.so.1
/usr/lib/libxslt.so.1
/usr/lib/libXss.so.1
/usr/lib/libXtst.so.6
/usr/lib/libXv.so.1
/usr/lib/libXxf86dga.so.1
/usr/lib/libXxf86misc.so.1
/usr/lib/libXxf86vm.so.1
/usr/lib/libz.so.1
/usr/share/icons/hicolor/icon-theme.cache
/usr/share/icons/gnome/icon-theme.cache
/usr/bin/esd
/usr/bin/jockey-gtk
/usr/bin/lsb_release
/usr/bin/mkfontdir
/usr/bin/which
/usr/sbin/laptop-detect
User avatar
merlwiz79
Level 8
Level 8
Posts: 2418
Joined: Wed Apr 04, 2007 1:50 pm
Location: Here again :)

Re: Unknown Window Manager?

Post by merlwiz79 »

Do you have Compiz Fusion in Autostarted Applications?
Also check the Widow Decorator plugin for compiz.
Make sure the command is emerald --replace & .
Image
Locked

Return to “Xfce”